"BLUEGRASS UNDERGROUND" IS AIRED ON VARIOUS DATES ON PBS. CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR TIMES AND DATES.
It took just 10 minutes to sell out all general
admission tickets for the entire weekend taping of Season 5 of Bluegrass
Underground (March 27-29). But if you missed out on that
record-breaking event, we’ll try to make it up to you with a whole
year’s worth of great concerts. The eighth year of Bluegrass Underground
in the Volcano Room of Cumberland Caverns will feature some of the
biggest names in bluegrass (Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Lonesome
River Band, Mountain Heart) along with Americana icon Ray Wylie
Hubbard, wonderfully unique, genre-defying artists like Ben Sollee and
Frank Fairfield and some genuine surprises, a few of whom may well turn
into one of your future favorites.
April 18, our regular concert season opens with Russell
Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out. Moore is the IBMA’s all-time top
award-winning male vocalist, with five wins to his credit, while IIIrd
Tyme has taken the vocal group IBMA seven times. Along with Moore on
vocals and guitar the group includes Wayne Benson on mandolin and
vocals, fiddler Justen Haynes and newest members Keith McKinnon on banjo
and Blake Johnson on bass. IIIrd Tyme Out really is state-of-the art
bluegrass and their show is sure to sell out.
May 2, it’s the return of old-time music master Frank
Fairfield, a multi-instrumentalist who would be equally at home jamming
with Uncle Dave Macon as he is playing major festivals like Hardly
Strictly. Trace Bundy is an acoustic musician from the other end of the
space-time continuum, playing cutting-edge guitar instrumentals for what
should be a very dynamic, time-warping afternoon at Cumberland Caverns.
June 27 features one of the best musicians ever to grace
the BGU stage, as cello virtuoso and songwriter Ben Sollee returns to
the Volcano Room. You can catch his earlier appearance on Bluegrass
Underground re-runs on PBS (check local listings). He’s got serious cred
with alt-rock folks from his work with My Morning Jacket’s Yim Yames,
but he’s one of those special artists who obliterate all genre lines.
Don’t miss him. High-energy old-time music revivalist Woody Pines will
kick things off for Ben.
July 19, it’s a very special Bluegrass Underground with
The Annie Moses Band. She leads a family group of her brothers and
sisters, performing in an expanded string quartet format that
effortlessly fuses bluegrass, newgrass and Americana with the rich
classical music tradition. Moses and siblings Alex and Ben Wolaver are
Julliard-trained and the band features arrangements by patriarch Bill
Wolaver.
That alone would make the show a unique experience, but
their Bluegrass Underground debut will include the young musicians from
the Annie Moses Band’s Fine Arts Summer Academy program, the culmination
of more than a week of intense practice and preparation. They’ve
performed at the Grand Ole Opry among other major venues, getting
promising young musicians out of the practice room and into major
performance experiences. Note that this is a Sunday concert. All other
BGU shows listed are on Saturdays.
Aug. 22, it’s an anniversary show and a homecoming, as
BGU celebrates eight years of live subterranean music, since that August
2008 premiere with the original Steeldrivers. But the anniversary show
features the actual first band to play the Volcano Room. The Volunteer
String Band was the canary in this particular saltpeter mine, as our
founder Todd Mayo brought the VSB in to test the cave’s acoustics. You
can find a Youtube of that historic event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JxcDknOnQM.
Opening will be Jimbo Darville and The Truckadours. So
come out and celebrate and welcome Grand Ole Opry star Travis Stinson
back to the cave.
Sept. 5, another BGU favorite is back, as the Lonesome
River Band returns. Driven by Sammy Shelor‘s banjo, LRB has it all:
great picking, great singing and, with more than a quarter century as a
band, a really deep catalog of great songs. Old Salt Union, a young
progressive band out of Belleville, in downstate Illinois, opens the
show. The band comes to BGU after a hot set in January at our sister
show, Music City Roots at the Factory in Franklin.
Sept. 26, it’s two top progressive bands from west of
the Mississippi. Taarka is led by the husband and wife team of
mandolinist David Pelton-Tiller and classically-trained violinist Enion
Pelton-Tiller and hails from Lyons, home of Colorado’s great RockyGrass
Festival (the 43rd edition of which is set for July 19-23) and the
incredibly vibrant year-round acoustic music scene that has grown up
around it. Taarka plays a uniquely elegant blend of bluegrass,
Americana, classical and Django-tinged jazz. Sharing the stage will be
San Francisco’s Front Country, a band that features singer/songwriter
Melody Walker, who won the 2013 Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at
Merlefest. And, coming from David Grisman’s home turf, it’s no surprise
Front Country boasts a hot mandolinist, Adam Roszkiewicz, nominated for a
GRAMMY for his work with the Modern Mandolin Quartet.
Oct. 3, it’s a legendary singer-songwriter who was
Americana way before Americana was cool, as Ray Wylie Hubbard makes his
Volcano Room debut. Now, every RWH show is a bit mind-altering, so
putting him in the Volcano Room promises an afternoon to remember.
Nov. 21, it’s longtime BGU favorite Mountain Heart. With
a show that runs from hardcore grass to full-tilt blues-rock, to say
these guys are a crowd pleaser is a woeful understatement. They will
tear the place down. But on this particular Saturday, it just might be
torn down before they even take the stage. Their opening act is internet
phenom EmiSunshine, a ukulele-picking, 10-year-old blues and country
belter from Madisonville, Tenn., with the talent and stage presence of a
major grownup star. This is a show you’ll be talking about for years to
come. Here’s a clip from her 2014 Opry debut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvD2AJLVsao
But that’s not all. We’ll be closing out 2015 with a
couple December shows, including a Christmas extravaganza, that we’’ll
be announcing in coming weeks. And we’ve got some very special Live From
the Underground events on tap. Watch this space.
But that’s still not all. One of the biggest,
most welcome changes coming in 2015 is that BGU is going to make it
easier to come to what has become an international music destination.
Before every show, I ask the crowd the same question -
“How many of you are here for the first time?” And every time, at least
three-fourths of the audience are newcomers. Now, we know it’s hard to
come to a new place for the first time, especially one, that, unlike
Nashville, doesn’t have a well-established music tourism infrastructure.
Of course, that’s one of the charms of McMinnville. But we’d like to
make it easier for everyone to experience Bluegrass Underground in all
its “Nova-Meets-Austin City Limits” glory. So the BGU team has been
organizing all-inclusive “Bucket List” packages with show tickets,
accommodations, cave tours and other amenities. All you have to do is
get here. We’ll do the rest.
And we’re starting that “Bucket List” Bluegrass
Underground Experience with the March 27-29 PBS TV taping, offering a
very limited number of ticket packages.
For more information on Bucket List packages: http://www.bluegrassunderground.com/2015ticketinfo/.
This year, it’s easier than ever to come see us at Bluegrass Underground and hear some unforgettable music in the really, really Deep South.
- Larry Nager
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